Consistency is King

When it comes to fitness, Consistency Is King.

Throughout my coaching career I have had countless clients, friends, coworkers and family ask me some variation of the same question “What is the best (workout plan, diet, supplement, sleep schedule) for me to improve my health?”. This is a big question and early on I would often spend quite a while talking through the various options of why CrossFit is the most optimized, why Paleo is the only way to go, and why creatine is a must. Over time, however, I have learned that these answers, while well intentioned and reasoned, were wrong. The correct answer to these questions, and infinitely more, is simply “The best (workout plan, diet, supplement, sleep schedule) is the one you will do consistently.” I know this is not the sexy, one size fits all solution that everyone is looking for, but it is the truth.

Take physical fitness as an example. Think of a single day in the gym. Warm up, work out and cool down in about an hour. In that hour did you completely change your fitness level and unlock your highest potential? Heck no! What you did do however is get 0.1% better. I can already hear you saying “but that is nothing, that is just a drop in the bucket.” In the short run you are correct Mr./Mrs. Negative Nancy, however, if you keep collecting those drops, day in and day out soon you start to see your efforts begin to grow slowly but surely. This growth with a consistent healthy diet and solid sleep will transform your life before you realize what is happening.

Now let’s take the inverse of this example, instead of working towards steady improvements you decide that you are going to get fit by working out for 4 hours, 1 day a week. While you are still getting in 4 hours of exercise a week you are definitely not getting the same benefits as if you had spread this over the whole week. In fact, there is a pretty good chance that injury or burnout may be on the horizon. Instead of gaining 0.1% you could potentially lose 5%, 10% or 15%.

While it may not be flashy or sexy, by prioritizing consistency you are setting yourself up for dramatic, lifelong improvement.

Remember, CONSISTENCY IS KING!